Vintage Crockery DIY & a chat with Lou Rota
Tuesday night saw the first Pinned it! Made it! party since I joined the girls as a part-time intern a few weeks ago and this month's class was to upcycle a vintage plate using the designer Lou Rota's animal menagerie decals.
The guests had a ball choosing their favourite vintage plate from the hand-picked selection on offer and I think everyone managed to bag the one they wanted which was a small miracle. There were lots of different decals to choose from- everything from flamingos to leaves and beetles. We sipped specially created Four Roses bourbon cocktails and chatted to the other Pinterest Party-ers about decal placement, our lives outside of crafting and how hot the barmen were. The lovely Lolli from Girl Stole London created a fantastic mirror image style flamingo plate, which will look mega-impressive on the wall!
I decided to go for the beetles to adorn my sky blue floral plate and I must say, I am pretty damn please with how it looks. I hung it up as soon as I got home, pride of place on my living room wall and now I'm quite tempted to make a few more with the home decal kits you can buy from Lou's website.
Lou Rota's work can currently be seen in Anthropologie for whom she designed a whole range of crockery and I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to ask her a few questions about her work:
E: Now that craft is your day job, are there any other crafts that help you relax, or any you'd love to learn? L: I rather fancy learning how to crochet, in my fantasy parallel life, making a huge heirloom throw appeals enormously
E: Where do you find your inspiration? L: The great outdoors ... nature and travel is definitely my biggest muse
E: Is there anything you'd like to emblazon with creepy crawlies or creatures that you haven't tried yet or that might too daring to attempt? L: Hmmm, not sure…maybe I should become an entomologist tattoo artist!
E: How do you keep motivated to create new products and designs? L: The ideas are the easy bit ... it's seeing them through that's hard.
E: Are there any designers you particularly admire for their work and achievements? Who do you use as your 'goalposts' for success, if you like? L: I love Swarm and Little Owl's work, which reuses old oil paintings on chairs, suitcases and plates. I like work that is truly original and not derivative. Also, companies who think beyond the product itself, Volpe and Volpe not only produce the most stunning bronze swan vases ever but do so using Britain's great ceramic heritage in Stoke on Trent
E: What's next for you? The Anthropologie collaboration was a huge success so is there anything similar on the horizon? L: More Anthropologie collections coming soon and not just ceramics. Plus, there are big changes afoot at Lou Rota in the new year- watch this space!
And, watch this space for details about the Christmas Pinned it! Made it! Party which we'll be announcing very soon, it's a corker!
